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Airportwatch Bulleting for May 2011

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Airportwatch Bulleting for May 2011 AirportWatch bulletin 43 May 2011 A Critical Summer It may seem all quiet on the aviation front right now (except for those planes roaring over our heads!) but this summer is a critical one for the future of aviation. It is the period when both the Government and the Labour Party will be putting in place the key first building blocks of aviation policies. The Government is consulting on its Aviation Scoping Document which will provide the foundation for its policy on aviation. Labour is revising its aviation policy as part of a wider policy review. AirportWatch, along with its supporter groups, will be providing input to both the Government and the Labour Party consultations. Our conference on 18th June will focus on the Scoping Document. The victories against new runways at Heathrow, Stansted and Gatwick may mean that it is going to be very difficult for any government to promote new runways in the future. That is certainly the view of sections of the aviation industry. But what we will have to fight is the incremental growth in flights at airports across the country. It reminds me very much of the aftermath of the momentous campaign against new roads in the 1990s in which I was involved. It did mean that, for the most part, major new roads through pristine countryside or in urban areas, were off the agenda. It did not mean that traffic levels on the existing roads were curtailed. We failed to halt the incremental increase in traffic. The result is that our cities, towns and many of our villages are overrun by cars. Our challenge as aviation campaigners is to fight to curb the number of flights using our airports. It will not be easy. In many ways, it will be harder that winning set-piece battles against new runways. To do so, we need not just to fight on an airport-by-airport basis, but also to find a unifying theme to make it a national battle. I’m not sure we have really found that yet. John Stewart - Chair AirportWatch "Flying Matters" crashes as members fall out Pro-aviation lobby group Flying Matters has been dissolved after key members quit. Their website no longer exists. It disbanded in April after BA, Virgin Atlantic, BAA and MAG decided to form their own group. Virgin and EasyJet disagree on APD, with easyJet wanting a per-plane tax instead, which would suit them (but not airlines like BA or Virgin) or lower APD on short flights (not surprisingly as that is what they do) and Virgin wanting lower APD on long haul flights. The industry is split on what to lobby for on APD. Flying Matters' director Brian Wilson was asked the basic question "why should there be a freedom to fly?" Christian Wolmar reported that: "All he could do was bluster that people had come to expect their two weeks on the Costa del wherever. I should have responded that the Victorian middle classes expected to pay very little for child chimney sweeps to risk their lives cleaning out their flues. Flying Matters carried little weight of influence, and any future lobbying group is expected to be formed around a more focused alliance. "Vital is the selection of the individual to lead such a coalition, common consensus being that British aviation is currently lacking such a person." 11.4.2011 http://bit.ly/jnVYQx. 1 Birmingham Airport runway extension expected to start in 2012 and be ready by 2014 The airport agreed, at a board meeting, to go out to tender for its runway extension and is confident the £65 million project will be started in 2012 and completed by the end of 2014. It hopes to then be able to offer non-stop flights to China, India and the west coast of America. The Government's Regional Growth Fund has allocated £15.7 million for upgrading the A45, which is about half of the £32 million cost. Chris Crean, from West Midlands FoE said the airport is only going to pay a paltry £7 million and should pay more. "The only reason the A45 needs realigning is to enable the runway extension to proceed." There is the wild claim that the project "promises to create up to 3,400 new jobs and deliver a £631 million boost to the local economy." From previous experience elsewhere, this figure is wildly over optimistic. The A45 issue raises a number of environmental concerns, largely around the extra emissions caused by the aircraft movements and people travelling to and from the airport, but also because the Chamber of Commerce have been talking up the M42 corridor (the A45 crosses the M42 close to the airport) as a growth area, with plans for labelling parts of it as an "Enterprise Zone" or "Belt". There are good arguments why it would be preferable for Birmingham City Centre to be an Enterprise Zone, rather than one close to the airport, which is not readily accessible by public transport and is in the green belt, rather than utilising brownfield land. FoE fears that the A45 and airport scheme is the start of “open season” on greenfield land adjacent to the motorway network. 20.4.2011 http://bit.ly/izlrc8 Birmingham FoE page on M42 http://bit.ly/m6Y6M5 Birmingham airport aspiration to be a major air transport hub Birmingham airport is being promoted as the solution to capacity constraints as the government seeks to rebuff criticism that it lacks a coherent aviation policy. There is pressure to build more airport capacity in the south although there is enough already. Philip Hammond was present at the opening of the latest phase of the redevelopment of the airport, and said Birmingham would become an even more important part of the UK national airport infrastructure. Hammond also said another key aspect of the transport strategy would be the development of HS2 rail link which will pass within a kilometre of the airport and will whisk passengers direct from London to the airport in around 35 minutes – roughly the time it takes commuters to travel from the centre of London to Gatwick. 16.5.2011 http://bit.ly/jSJk60 New law enables Met Police to recover London City Airport security cost New legislation, under the Policing and Crime Bill, could mean the Met Police can recoup some of the cost of securing the airport. Changes instituted on April 1 mean the onus is now on UK airports to fund policing, which at London City is estimated to cost around £5.7 million this year. London City would not comment on how much of the bill it will pick up, citing confidentiality over security. Opponents have long argued it is unfair for the taxpayer to pay for policing a privately-owned airport. It was revealed in 2008 that the Metropolitan Police spent £24 million policing London City Airport over the previous 5 years (£5.8 million in 2008). In 2008 the Met spent £196 million on policing Heathrow over the preceding 5 years. But unlike at London City Airport, the Police Service recovers around 70% of the Heathrow cost. London City Airport claimed they made £50 million profit last year, so they could afford to pay for their own policing costs. 4.5.2011 http://bit.ly/lDzhKm 2 Controversial planning document could pave way for Belfast City Airport runway extension Local residents have expressed their alarm at a draft planning policy document - the Draft Planning Policy Statement 24: Economic Considerations – which could pave the way for George Best Belfast City Airport to be permitted its long-sought runway extension. It states that the economic implications of a proposed development can, where significant, be the determining factor in approving a planning application - which would shift the goal posts in favour of the airport. If so, environmental concerns would be brushed aside. Belfast City Airport Watch (BCAW) says this is nothing more than a charter for developers. Planning applications are already difficult enough for ordinary people to challenge – this policy guidance, with its emphasis on claimed economic benefits, would make the cost of mounting a challenge prohibitive in many instances. 3.5.2011 http://bit.ly/lEJWcn Following the recent Northern Ireland Assembly election earlier this month, there is now a new Environment Minister, Alex Attwood, from the SDLP. BCAW are hoping he will ensure there’s no further expansion at City Airport, and that he’ll work to achieve a better quality of life for residents by instituting and enforcing robust noise controls. The Belfast City Airport Judicial Review hearing on 13th – 15th June inclusive The rival Belfast International Airport is seeking a judicial review of the decision to remove the annual seats for sale restrictions at Belfast City Airport. BCAW has also issued similar proceedings. Their lawyers claim the Minister, Edwin Poot's, decision is unlawful and that he should abide by his department's own planning restrictions. They also contend that he failed to take into consideration environmental information. A further ground of challenge is that the seats restriction was removed without checking whether there was an effective noise control system and an improved noise management system in place at Belfast City Airport. http://bit.ly/lGruUE Also Inquiry The Northern Ireland Department of Environment called for new inquiry in April. 19.4.2011 (BCAW). It has submitted a new request for a public inquiry into plans to extend the runway. The Planning Appeals Commission (PAC) refused to proceed with an inquiry last year. It wanted the department to produce more detailed environmental information about the likely noise impacts.
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